1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to LED light fixtures. More particularly, the disclosure relates to modular LED light fixtures having light diffusion control structures and heat dissipation structures.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There are various types of lighting sources available on the market today. The most common of these are incandescent or florescent lamps.
These related art light sources have the major disadvantages of inefficiency, short lamp life, and poor durability. Incandescent lamps and other related art lamps are highly inefficient when compared to other light sources, converting the applied energy mostly into heat rather than light. Regarding lamp life, incandescent lamps rank lowest, with a lamp life that may range from 750 hours to approximately 5,000 hours. The lamp life of florescent lamps is somewhat better, at approximately 20,000 hours. Another disadvantage is that incandescent and florescent lamps are easily breakable.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs), also known as solid-state lighting, have entered the market in recent years and offer solutions to some of the above disadvantages. LEDs use a semiconductor chip doped with impurities to emit a type of electroluminescence. Generally, an LED is connected to a driver circuit. As the driver circuit applies a voltage to the chip, the LED produces a narrow spectrum light. LEDs are much less susceptible to breaking compared to incandescent and florescent lamps. LEDs are efficient in that they produce more lumens per watt than most related art lamps. Further, LEDs generally have long lamp life, averaging at 50,000 hours, with some LEDs reaching well over 100,000 hours.
Related art LED fixtures, however, have the disadvantage that they are costly to manufacture. This is largely a result of the fact that LEDs produce light having an angular structure. In order to make the LED produce diffused uniform light several additional optical components are needed. Further, current lighting manufacturing for general illumination are tooled for incandescent and fluorescent fixtures, not LED fixtures. Retooling would be a very costly capital investment.
Related art LED light fixtures employ multiple individual LEDs in each fixture in order to achieve a desired luminescence. Each LED within the fixture thus requires the use of a reflector lens and a secondary lens in order to effectively disperse the narrow light beam into a usable form, which may be very expensive. When multiplied by the plurality of LEDs that are used in each related art LED light fixture, manufacturing costs substantially increase, resulting in a retail cost that may deter consumers from choosing LEDs as their primary light source.
Further, related art LED light fixtures have the disadvantage in that they do not employ effective thermal management, and thus fail to properly dissipate heat that is produced. While LEDs produce more lumens per watt than other light sources, related art LED light fixture are still susceptible to burnout due to improper heat dissipation within the fixtures. Lack of proper thermal management of an LED light fixture could negatively affect light output and shorten the otherwise long and reliable life of the LEDs.
Accordingly, what is needed is a durable LED lighting system having optics that are relatively inexpensive to manufacture in various shapes and sizes, and are ease to install. What is further needed is an LED light system that provides proper thermal management of the light fixture when in use.